James Gardner Clark, Jr. (September 17, 1922 – June 4, 2007)
["Sheriff Jim Clark, segregationist icon, dies at 84"](_blank)
AP via NBC News, June 6, 2007 was the
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
of
Dallas County Dallas County may refer to:
Places in the USA:
* Dallas County, Alabama, founded in 1818, the first county in the United States by that name
* Dallas County, Arkansas
* Dallas County, Iowa
* Dallas County, Missouri
* Dallas County, Texas, the nin ...
,
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
from 1955 to 1966. He was one of the officials responsible for the violent arrests of
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
protestors during the
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three protest marches, held in 1965, along the 54-mile (87 km) highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery. The marches were organized by nonviolent activists to demonstrate the ...
of 1965, and is remembered as a racist whose brutal tactics included using
cattle prods
A cattle prod, also called a stock prod or a hot stick, is a handheld device commonly used to make cattle or other livestock move by striking or poking them. An electric cattle prod is a stick with electrodes on the end which is used to make catt ...
against unarmed civil rights supporters.
[
]
Early life and family
Jim Clark was born in Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
, the son of Ettie Lee and James Gardner Clark. He served with the U.S. Army Air Force
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
in the Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...
during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Clark was a cattle rancher when his lifelong friend, Alabama Governor Jim Folsom
James Elisha Folsom, Sr. (October 9, 1908 – November 21, 1987), commonly known as Jim Folsom or Big Jim Folsom, was an American politician who served as the 42nd governor of the U.S. state of Alabama, having served from 1947 to 1951, and ag ...
, appointed him as sheriff in 1955. He married and later divorced Louise Clark, with whom he had five children, Jimmy Clark, Jeff Clark, Johnny Clark, Joanna Clark Miller and Jan Clark Buster .
Dallas County Sheriff (1955–1966)
In 1964 and 1965, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...
(SNCC) engaged in a voting drive in Dallas County Dallas County may refer to:
Places in the USA:
* Dallas County, Alabama, founded in 1818, the first county in the United States by that name
* Dallas County, Arkansas
* Dallas County, Iowa
* Dallas County, Missouri
* Dallas County, Texas, the nin ...
, of which Selma
Selma may refer to:
Places
*Selma, Algeria
*Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons
United States:
*Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches
*Selma, Arkansas
*Selma, Cali ...
was the county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
. As sheriff of Dallas County, Clark vocally opposed racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...
, wearing a button reading "Never" ntegrate He wore military style clothing and carried a cattle prod
A cattle prod, also called a stock prod or a hot stick, is a handheld device commonly used to make cattle or other livestock move by striking or poking them. An electric cattle prod is a stick with electrodes on the end which is used to make catt ...
in addition to his pistol and club.
In response to the voting drive, Clark recruited a horse mounted posse
Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates.
Posse may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Posse'' (1975 ...
of Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
members and supporters. Together with the highway patrolmen of Albert J. Lingo, the posse was intended to "operate ... as a mobile anti-civil rights force", and appeared at several Alabama towns outside of Clark's jurisdiction to assault
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
and threaten civil rights workers.
In Selma, the SNCC campaign was met with violence and intimidation by Clark, who waited at the entrance to the county courthouse, beating and arresting registrants at the slightest provocation. At one point, Clark arrested around 300 students who were holding a silent protest outside the courthouse, force-marching them with cattle prods to a detention center three miles away. At another point he was punched in the jaw and knocked down by a demonstrator, Annie Lee Cooper
Annie Lee Wilkerson Cooper (June 2, 1910 – November 24, 2010) was an African-American civil rights activist in the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement who is best known for punching Dallas County, Alabama Sheriff Jim Clark.
Life and work
Annie ...
, whom he was trying to make go home by poking her in the neck with either a nightstick or a cattle prod after she had stood for hours at the courthouse in an attempt to register to vote. By 1965, only 300 of the city's 15,000 potential black voters were registered.[
These actions led to a widespread comparison of Clark to ]Eugene "Bull" Connor
Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor (July 11, 1897 – March 10, 1973) was an American politician who served as Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, for more than two decades. A member of the Democratic Party, ...
,[ and to ]James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...
saying of Clark:
I suggest that what has happened to the white Southerner is in some ways much worse than what has happened to the Negroes there ... One has to assume that he is a man like me, but he does not know what drives him to use the club, to menace with a gun, and to use a cattle prod against a woman's breasts ... Their moral lives have been destroyed by a plague called color.
After ''The New York Times'' and ''The Washington Post'' published photos of an SCLC protest at which Clark wielded a club and pushed Amelia Boynton to the ground, Ralph Abernathy
Ralph David Abernathy Sr. (March 11, 1926 – April 17, 1990) was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was ordained in the Baptist tradition in 1948. As a leader of the civil rights movement, he was a close friend and ...
nominated him for honorary membership in the Dallas County Voters League
The Dallas County Voters League (DCVL) was a local organization in Dallas County, Alabama, which contains the city of Selma, that sought to register black voters during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The organization was founded in the 1920s by ...
, a local voting rights organization, for "publicity services rendered".
Bloody Sunday
On February 18, 1965, in Marion, Alabama
Marion is a city in, and the county seat of, Perry County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 3,686, up 4.8% over 2000. First known as Muckle Ridge, the city was renamed for a hero of the American Revolut ...
, a peaceful protest march was met by Alabama state patrolmen, who beat the protesters after street lights suddenly went out. A young protester, Jimmie Lee Jackson
Jimmie Lee Jackson (December 16, 1938 – February 26, 1965) was an African American civil rights activist in Marion, Alabama, and a deacon in the Baptist church. On February 18, 1965, while unarmed and participating in a peaceful voting rig ...
, attempted to protect his mother and octogenarian grandfather from police beating, and was shot in the stomach by Corporal James Bonard Fowler
James Bonard Fowler (September 10, 1933 – July 5, 2015) was an Alabama state trooper, known for fatally shooting civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson on February 18, 1965, during a peaceful march by protesters seeking voting rights. Fowler ...
of the highway patrol. Jackson died eight days later of his injuries. Clark was present on the police side at Marion, despite it being outside his jurisdiction.
In response to the failed registration campaign, and as a direct response to the killing of Jackson, James Bevel
James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its Director of Direct ...
initiated, called for, and organized a march from Selma to Montgomery.
On March 7, 1965, around 600 protesters left Selma. Clark's officers and posse joined with Alabama state troopers in attacking the protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge
The Edmund Pettus Bridge carries U.S. Route 80 Business (US 80 Bus.) across the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama. Built in 1940, it is named after Edmund Pettus, a former Confederate brigadier general, U.S. senator, and state-level ...
on the outskirts of Selma in an event that came to be known as "Bloody Sunday", resulting in the hospitalization of over 60 protesters. That evening, ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
interrupted the television premiere of ''Judgment at Nuremberg
''Judgment at Nuremberg'' is a 1961 American epic courtroom drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, written by Abby Mann and starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietr ...
'' to show scenes of the violence to around 48 million Americans. This was a critical event in the United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
passing the Voting Rights Act
The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...
.
In an obituary, ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' noted:
Mr. Clark's most visible moment came March 7, 1965, at the start of a peaceful voting rights march from Selma to the capital city of Montgomery.
Mr. Clark and his men were stationed near Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. Alabama State Trooper John Cloud ordered the hundreds of marchers to disperse. When they did not, Mr. Clark commanded his mounted "posse" to charge into the crowd. Tear gas heightened the chaos, and protesters were beaten.
Captured on national television, the Bloody Sunday incident spurred widespread revulsion. Even Gov. George C. Wallace, who had earlier sparked a national showdown over a refusal to integrate public schools, reprimanded the state troopers and Mr. Clark.[
]
Views on Martin Luther King, Jr.
On July 22, 1965, the Texarkana, Texas local branch of the Citizen's Council, a white supremacist organization, sponsored Clark's appearance as a guest at their meeting. During Clark's talk to the group, he recalled of Bloody Sunday, "they sent the so-called preachers." He went on to say of Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
, "we decided to treat him like the common yellow cur dog that he is."
Loss of sheriff's office
Mayor of Selma Joseph Smitherman and Wilson Baker wanted to blunt the force of the campaign by exercising restraint but the voter registration offices were Clark's responsibility. In the 1966 election, following the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...
, Wilson Baker defeated Clark's write-in campaign, in part because the Act allowed many African-Americans to register to vote and cast ballots against Clark.[ According to The New York Times the day after the election, "The two men had previously met in the Democratic primary race and Mr. Baker was the winner." Clark attempted to have suppressed 1,600 ballots cast for his opponent due to "irregularities", but court orders placed the votes back on record.]
Later life and death
Following his defeat, Clark sold mobile home
A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Us ...
s.["Jim Clark, Sheriff Who Enforced Segregation, Dies at 84"]
''The New York Times'', June 7, 2007. He also became involved in a number of dubious enterprises. These included being a broker for 'the Tangible Risk Insurance Company' in Birmingham, which got him indicted with eight other men for mail fraud, to which he pleaded no contest
' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense.
In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neithe ...
. Then, in 1973, he served in North Carolina as general manager of the Pinehurst Mortgage & Loan Company, which turned out to be a loan-sharking outfit; the company eventually accused Clark of embezzlement but the company itself folded in the face of securities law enforcement. By 1976 Clark was back in Alabama as an officer of 'International Coal & Mining', but one of his partners was prosecuted for fraud and embezzlement.[James Reston, Jr., ''Clark and Pritchett – A Comparison of two notorious southern lawmen'', Southern Cultures, vol. 22, no.1 (Winter 2016) pages 53–54.] In 1978, a federal grand jury in Montgomery indicted Clark on charges of conspiring to smuggle three tons of marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
from Colombia. Clark was sentenced to two years in prison and ended up serving nine months. In 2006, he told the ''Montgomery Advertiser
The ''Montgomery Advertiser'' is a daily newspaper and news website located in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded in 1829.
History
The newspaper began publication in 1829 as ''The Planter's Gazette.'' Its first editor was Moseley Baker. It ...
'' that concerning his actions during the civil rights movement, "Basically, I'd do the same thing today if I had to do it all over again." He died at Elba Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Elba, Alabama
Elba is a city in and the county seat of Coffee County, Alabama, United States. It is the official seat, although there are two county courthouses, with the other one being located in the town of Enterprise. At the time of the 2010 U.S. census ...
, on June 4, 2007, from a stroke and a heart condition. Amelia Boynton Robinson
Amelia Isadora Platts Boynton Robinson (August 18, 1911 – August 26, 2015) was an American activist who was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama, and a key figure in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. In 1984, ...
, whom Clark had arrested in 1965, attended his funeral.["Amelia Boynton Robinson, activist was beaten on Selma bridge, dies at 104"]
/ref>
References
External links
Obituary of Jim Clark
(economist.com)
*“Eyes on the Prize
''Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement'' is an American television series and 14-part documentary about the 20th-century civil rights movement in the United States. The documentary originally aired on the PBS network, and it also ...
Interview with James G. Clark
” 1986-02-19, American Archive of Public Broadcasting
The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The AAPB is a national effort to digitall ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Jim (sheriff)
Alabama sheriffs
United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
Politicians from Selma, Alabama
American people convicted of drug offenses
1922 births
2007 deaths
20th-century American politicians
Selma to Montgomery marches
American white supremacists
Military personnel from Alabama
Alabama Democrats